[CiaranAudio]

We all understand the importance of long tones, and a variety of warm-ups and exercises at different lengths and intervals etc.

In a pinch, meaning you have only 45 mins to practice today, how long are your warm-up tones? Breathing exercises? Etc etc...

Cheers!

 

[hakukani]

45 minutes?

But seriously, when pressed for time (and believe it or not, I often am), I try to a learn ballad that has looong tones on it, thereby multitasking learning a ballad with doing longtones, and I spend enough time to feel 'warmed up'.

 

[Bernards20040]

I would love to have 45 minutes a day to practice I am usually lucky if I get 30
So 10 mins long tones
10 mins scales etc
10 mins noodling.

 

[Razzy]

The ballad idea is nice but at some point I think it's necessary to develop a long tone exercise of some kind that incorporates the whole horn in an even fashion, to achieve that even tone on every note of your instrument and work towards the ultimate goal of complete equal control of every note on the horn. I like to do "ha-ta-ta" and then follow this with a slow major scale of one octave or so, trying to achieve evenness on every tone. Sometimes it can take as long as 40 minutes doing this from every note on the horn as high you can go. At some point you will start playing the major scale descending and coming back up to the starting note. I like to take it up to D4.

 

[Bub99]

This exercise seems to burn me out pretty thoroughly once the cycle of fourths has been completed (just showing two here, you get the idea):

For extra fun keep going until the entire instrument range has been covered including top tones.

 

[CiaranAudio]

Hey all! Thanks for your input!

But I was perhaps not as clear as I intended.

I mean, literally, HOW LONG are your long tones? 6 secs? 8 secs? I mean from a point of building an eveness of tone across the entire fundamental range. Tone, tuning, support, etc.

 

[Birdman]

I working to get to 25 seconds currently I'm at 20 sometimes only 17 seconds.

 

[asaxman]

Come on in, my love.
Come in, don't be a stanger.
There are times, many times,
when myself I've done stranger.
Stranger, stranger, oh
let it roll, lassie, roll.
Come what may, anyway,
I was born not to follow.
There are times, many times,
when my pride I must swallow.
Follow, swallow, oh follow;
let it roll, lassie, roll.
* Oh my, SOTW gets a little .....

 

[CiaranAudio]

Come on in, my love.
Come in, don't be a stanger.
There are times, many times,
when myself I've done stranger.
Stranger, stranger, oh
let it roll, lassie, roll.
Come what may, anyway,
I was born not to follow.
There are times, many times,
when my pride I must swallow.
Follow, swallow, oh follow;
let it roll, lassie, roll.
* Oh my, SOTW gets a little .....

????

 

[Thomas]

Unless you're playing long tones for a living they're simply a waste of time in the world of actually playing music for a living. One is much better off developing their tone, and control of it, playing music you'll actually be playing. Long tones are just another excuse teachers use to justify their existance.

 

[Bossman]

Unless you're playing long tones for a living they're simply a waste of time in the world of actually playing music for a living. One is much better off developing their tone, and control of it, playing music you'll actually be playing. Long tones are just another excuse teachers use to justify their existance.

Wow, very strong words. I have never met a professional woodwind or brass player who has agreed with them. Long tones are THE way to build your embouchure and develop a your tone towards your tonal concept. Yeah once you're at a point where you have a huge perfect tone like Michael Brecker or something, then maybe you don't have to do long tones every day anymore... but even he did (he said in a video interview.)

All the more power to you if you're able to develop your tone whilst practicing other stuff and/or noodling.

 

[Nefertiti]

I did long tones for a short time in college when I studied with Joe Viola and Steven Mauk but since then I havn't really touched them. I warm up and then play. I'm always thinking tone and sound and adjusting while I play.

 

[Turnaround]

It's not about quantity, but quality. Try playing a longtone as if it were the only note in the solo. Listen to Brandford Marsalises first note on Sting's song "Englishman In New York". Try putting emotion in your longtones and a 2 second longtone will do you more good than a 3 minute air through a saxophone Kenny G world record.

 

[CiaranAudio]

I feel myself struggling to keep a perfectly even and "non-vibrato"(?) tone for more than 8-12 seconds, although I can hold a tone for more like 20. I realize that my soprano setup is basically "honky-tonk" (ie. poor horn, open mouthpiece, stiff reed) and am sacrificing some finesse and tone for power, but even 20 minutes a day as part of my routine for a few months now hasn't really helped my tone. Good for breath support.

Maybe its the cheap horn, but the mouthpiece, lig, and reeds are quality. And I really do believe in the philosophy that its all about embouchure.

 

[rleitch]

I use Rascher's model: 4 whole notes tied together. These days I'm doing it with the metronome at 80.

R.

Steve:shock:

 

[Step Hen]

Longer since I got an email offering me a pump to lengthen them with.

Dunno how they knew my tones were so short, though.

 

[claxton]

Having started about three months ago, I can only practice for an hour before my chops blow out, so 45 minutes is pretty close to pretty standard for me. I always start out with long tones, looking at a tuner sometimes closing my eyes to try to hear it with out visual verification. Low C D and E take about 12 seconds to empty me out. From C2 up to C3 I can produce a tone for about 35-40 seconds, but it tough to keep it rock steady after 20 seconds. I combine the long tones with scales. and spend about 5 minutes on average. before moving on to doing more scales. Then it's assigned exercises and pieces, then Cry Me a River (for now) for dessert.

This is what my teacher has prescribed me to do. The spent on him is the best investment I can make in playing.

If I find myself quivering or struggling during the meat of the practice, I know its time to go back to long tones to get my embouchure corrected. Usually it is me tensing up or taking too little mouthpiece.

I'm new to be having opinions, but it seems to me that without long tone training, you could end up being the equivalent of what Carl Lewis is to dance.

 

[CiaranAudio]

Having started about three months ago, I can only practice for an hour before my chops blow out, so 45 minutes is pretty close to pretty standard for me. I always start out with long tones, looking at a tuner sometimes closing my eyes to try to hear it with out visual verification. Low C D and E take about 12 seconds to empty me out. From C2 up to C3 I can produce a tone for about 35-40 seconds, but it tough to keep it rock steady after 20 seconds. I combine the long tones with scales. and spend about 5 minutes on average. before moving on to doing more scales. Then it's assigned exercises and pieces, then Cry Me a River (for now) for dessert.

This is what my teacher has prescribed me to do. The spent on him is the best investment I can make in playing.

If I find myself quivering or struggling during the meat of the practice, I know its time to go back to long tones to get my embouchure corrected. Usually it is me tensing up or taking too little mouthpiece.

I'm new to be having opinions, but it seems to me that without long tone training, you could end up being the equivalent of what Carl Lewis is to dance.

See, I've been playing for 16 years and STILL can't keep rocksteady pure tone for more than 12-20 seconds. So it sounds to me like you're doing great!!!

 

[claxton]

I ue a vintage Brilhart Tonelin 3 with Rico orange box 2.5s on my tenor. Anything more open than that and I'm sure my numbers would go down. Not that it matters that much, does it? I mean, the long tones are a means to an end of getting to sound better when playing music, not to being able to blow long tones. I don't know of many songs with tones longer than 10 seconds.

 

[CiaranAudio]

I ue a vintage Brilhart Tonelin 3 with Rico orange box 2.5s on my tenor. Anything more open than that and I'm sure my numbers would go down. Not that it matters that much, does it? I mean, the long tones are a means to an end of getting to sound better when playing music, not to being able to blow long tones. I don't know of many songs with tones longer than 10 seconds.

Very true, but practicing long tones is more than breath-support and tone, its also a chance to really tune-in and pay attention to the finer points of your embouchure. We're all fighting for ways to make it last longer, and thinking in detail about embouchure becomes a lot easier when applied to holding a long tone, "perfectly".